“A single lie destroys a whole reputation for integrity” -Baltasar Gracian
I once kept my list of character traits I wanted in a President very simple. Courage of conviction and integrity were at the top of my list. No longer.
In the last election, we had a watershed moment, when the dimmer bulbs and the power hungry of the nation elected a man who brought something to the office we have rarely had before. Audacity. Not the audacity to lead the nation on a course of preservation, which requires telling those who enjoy the entitlements Uncle Sugar hands out that the days of their unchecked rapaciousness is over. Instead, it was the audaciousness to use taxpayer money to buy failing businesses under the premise that they were “Too big to fail”, and expand into health care, because government has done such a bang-up job with the Post Office, procurement, and the “War on Poverty”.
We got not the audacity to look at the world’s petty tyrants and bullies, and let them know that there will be consequences for unrestrained asshattery, but the audacity to stand in foreign cities, and apologize for American Exceptionalism to people who are owed no apology.
We got the audacity not to dare to make both those who cling to their prejudices and those who cling to their victimhood lay down their burdens, and simply be Americans, but instead, the most divisive American President in recent memory, who cannot even bother to pretend to act in such an interest, but instead helps to enshrine such prejudices by admitting to his own, whether insulting Americans by talking about how they bitterly cling to their Bibles and guns, or talking about how the Cambridge police acted stupidly when they did their jobs and hurt the feelings of a friend of his who has made a career of victimhood.
We got the audacity not of a man who could solve the challenges that the country faces today and successfully use the first real opportunity to close the rifts that exist in society today, but instead a man who, lacking any ability to solve problems, instead childishly blames his predecessor whenever his own shortcomings grow too large for him to conceal, and a unmittigated contempt for those who have no desire to import Europe’s failed policies to our shores, punctuated by endless lectures to people who have actually done something with their lives other than run for office. It would be amusing if it weren’t so damn tragic.
But the audacity that sells us all short? They audacity with which he tells a lie. The way that they are so very effortless for him indicates just how much contempt he has for Americans. Whether it is the importance of passing the spendulous bill to keep unemployment at no more than 8%, or that the health care bill wouldn’t add a single dime to the deficit, or how much he is committed to cutting spending, even a blind and deaf man can see that there is no lie too big for him not to tell.
My list? It now includes honesty, and integrity. Two traits glaringly lacking in the current occupant of the Oval Office. But then, that’s why we have these election thingies, right?
Crossposted at The Hostages
Excellently well said!
For a long time now, my baseline criterion for voting for a candidate has been, “Would I be willing to have him at my dinner table?” I knew Obama couldn’t meet that standard from the very first words I heard him speak.
We cannot have such men in power, as if it weren’t obvious by now. But then, the Latin roots of “obvious” mean “overlooked.”
It is good to see that integrity was in the original list and remains in the revised list. On that basis, Obama failed in the first case, and he continues to fail. The man has not integrity and has never shown any at all.
He would not pass your new criterion of honesty, but then he did not pass your old criterion of courage of conviction. He has never been a man of courage, only bluster and a bully. He crumples like a paper doll when hit by a real challenge, as we are sadly observing. There is no substance at all to the man; he is a hollow shell.
There are endless useful criteria we could posit for the President, but Obama would fail them all. He is simply unfit for the office and should be ousted as soon as possible.
Looks like Dr. D summed it up pretty well. Great post, as always.
[...] might try avoiding Lies, Fish Stories, Whoppers, and Damn Lies, as [...]
Oh BiW, I know how you hate the “predecessor” thing but too big to fail was not invented by Obama. And I assure you as sure as I am sitting here typing this right now, John McCain would have followed Bush’s lead the very same way.
What should really trouble you is how little Obama has departed from what would have gone down if George could have had a third term.
I think the REAL truth is that the America you want is never going to happen and you know what? The America I want is never going to happen either. I am increasingly of the belief that we are flawed, regardless of who occupies Congress and the White House. We seem to have lost the spark for implementing good ideas that lead to positive outcomes. Perhaps the entire US has just been dumbed down over the years. Watching too much TV maybe?
When I see some folks say that we should look at Greece with the understanding that we will be them soon, it takes me aback. And while you moan and groan about Barack Obama, you can’t name a single politician who can save us. Can you?
What should really trouble you is how little Obama has departed from what would have gone down if George could have had a third term.
Wow. I’m really torn here. A tacit admission to no hope and no change, and the fact that I don’t accept the premise that a third term of W wouldn’t be any different.
The simple fact is that it would have been very different. Instead we’d have a leader of character, who took every ridiculous claim and silly accusation with far greater grace and class than the small jug-eared thug who lectures and talks down to Americans at every single opportunity. We’d have a man who endured every shrill condemnation the Left and and the Hate America First crowd (but I repeat myself) could muster, and not transform every turn in front of a camera or open microphone into a chance strike back at critics, unlike the fellow-traveler from Chicago who thinks nothing of abusing the podium of the President in the most inappropriate ways to go on the defensive in order to detract from what he himself is not capable of overcoming (and the shortcomings are LEGION) and to gin up you and the rest of the fitty tooers in some wild clapping jag over him TALKING rather than finding ways to lead us ALL. The difference is that in W., we had a leader who knew he was never going to please everyone, but understood that he asked for the job of leading everyone, and wasn’t so arrogant as to believe that any of it was due to himself alone. Now we have a man who aspires to rule and and has the temerity to believe that something is wrong with those who do not agree with him and see him for what he is.
I think the REAL truth is that the America you want is never going to happen and you know what?
I think it already has, and therefore, I believe it is possible to have it again, but not with over half of the population willing to simply believe what they are told, and not without something to awaken the character manifested in our ancestors.
The America I want is never going to happen either.
I know what the America you embrace contains. Much of it runs contrary to the America that was born on these shores hundreds of years ago, and has no place in the annals of success, so you’ll forgive me my happy dance if somehow the Chicago Messiah falls short on his delievery.
I am increasingly of the belief that we are flawed, regardless of who occupies Congress and the White House.
Be careful R. You’re heading down a road that is bound to separate you from beliefs that you have held dear for a very long time.
The people we elect are only part of the puzzle, R. There is the little matter of the LAW, and the various delegations and separations of power that it clearly defines, yet have become so very blurred in my lifetime due to a persons of low character who have encouraged such confusion, and the persons of even lower character who, despite being charged with preventing it actually permitted it.
We seem to have lost the spark for implementing good ideas that lead to positive outcomes. Perhaps the entire US has just been dumbed down over the years. Watching too much TV maybe?
Or maybe it is just that selfish desires and that plague of impartial governance, the good intention, have lead to a place where the “rights” outweigh the responsibilities because some people have a vested interest in keeping it that way.
When I see some folks say that we should look at Greece with the understanding that we will be them soon, it takes me aback. And while you moan and groan about Barack Obama, you can’t name a single politician who can save us. Can you?
I moan and groan about Barack Hussein Obama because his freinds have had us on this path for a long, long time, and because he has absolutely no interest in turning us aside and even trying to prevent us from going to the exact same place, and you’ll never know exactly how infuriating it is to hear someone like you who voted for the charlatan and carried his water for the last year plus dare to lecture me about it.
As long as the fiity tooers are who they have been, there will be no elected official who is capable, nor would the nation elect one who is. The change starts with us, and unless we reject the tyranny of good intentions or the tyranny of entitlements and hyphenated Americanism (depending on which lens you’re looking through), the politicians will change nothing, and the express train to ruin will continue.
I’m not hip BiW ….. could you translate “fitty tooers”? I know fitty is fifty but I’m lost on the “tooers” and a google search didn’t help any.
Please don’t wax nostalgic about the “America that was born on these shores”. If you wanna talk about original sin … our very origin was as sinful as it comes … stealing a country from its original occupants.
More to ponder:
http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/S/P/3/Show-Me-Your-Papers.jpg
And this one from David Letterman:
“They say there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in this country. But if you ask a Native American, that number is more like 300 million.”
I’m not hip BiW ….. could you translate “fitty tooers”? I know fitty is fifty but I’m lost on the “tooers” and a google search didn’t help any.
The fifty-two percent who voted for the audacity of dope.
Please don’t wax nostalgic about the “America that was born on these shores”. If you wanna talk about original sin … our very origin was as sinful as it comes … stealing a country from its original occupants.
More to ponder:
http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/S/P/3/Show-Me-Your-Papers.jpg
And this one from David Letterman:
“They say there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in this country. But if you ask a Native American, that number is more like 300 million.”
Please spare me your outrage…at least until you renounce your citizenship and hie thee to the welfare states of Europe which are in a race to die from the costs of entitlements or at the hands of the vipers they have taken to their breasts, or to some turd world toilet. Until that day comes, I have no problems with Columbus Day or Manifest Destiny.
Excellent post BiC – you’re quickly becoming one of my favorite authors on the net.
WOW “R”, like BiC I’m taken back by the direction and character of your response. Is it hope and change in character I read? Or is it simple disappointment that the one you thought capable has proven so incapable? I lean toward that may have been one of the most honest posts I’ve read from you. Refreshing, actually.
Are you now willing to admit the Word on record as correct? As is, “there is none good, no not one”, or “that man is inherently evil?” That perhaps man left to his own accord is doomed to failure? That we need more than each one’s opinion and that there are absolutes?
We seem to have lost the courage of our convictions. But there have been some successes. I think there is no doubt Reagan had many successes – the most visible being the defeat of the USSR and the restoration of a strong economy. Clinton could claim success of welfare reform and a measure of fiscal responsibility. Both Bush Sr. and Jr. were successful in leading a coalition to victory in war, with Bush Jr. bringing us a measure of calm after 9/11. All had at various times high approval ratings, exceeding the approval rating they had when first taking office.
One of the few liberals I had a measure of respect for, Daniel Patrick Moynihan said as years ago and I agreed – defining deviancy downward.
This is the path that is man’s nature when man decides he is worthy of defining truth.
Tex, I’m blogging at Nice Deb’s now too.
Man do you get around!
Well I do a bit of cross posting myself.
I’m on open.salon.com (very lib)
Best of the Blogs (very lib)
BloggersBase (quite conservative …. when I get any comments there at all, I usually get called an assh*le.)
BiC,
I can honestly say that your posts are so complete and thorough, this is one site where I have little to add except to say job well done. It’s like critiquing an “A” paper or reading a good book.
About all I can add is when somebody like Rutherford responds with criticism, and even his comments are usually quasi-complimentary.
I wish you had the time to post more. See you at Nice Debs.
Let’s put it this way Tex. I always maintained Obama would get one year free and clear from me while I gave him a chance to get his feet on the ground.
Time’s up and I’m starting to take measure of things more precisely. Am I still a fan? Absolutely. Do I see problems? Absolutely. Recent posts of mine have started down that road, particularly with what I am perceiving as unnecessary (and perhaps unintended) arrogance on the part of the POTUS.
I think by 2012 you will see a very balanced critique from me. It all depends on how things progress.
Rutherford,
Obama has been arrogant and narcissistic from the get go. You’re lagging behind in recognition. I feel you were willingly blind to that fact because he was your guy.
You’ll begin to win me over when you begin to recognize the incompetence to go with the arrogance. Sorry, and I honestly mean this, but Obama’s performance has been abysmal – his foreign policy a disaster, even worse than the pathetic domestic performance.
Obama may have the gift of gab and still be charismatic to many – in fact, he is. But unless he begins to grab hold of the wheel and start steering, he will go down as a huge disappointment and it will be impossible for you to provide cover.
His intitial comments during the Gates “incident” tell me everything I need to know about this POS. As if the rest of his “baggage” isnt bad enough……
“They say there are about 12 million illegal immigrants in this country. But if you ask a Native American, that number is more like 300 million.”
Just goes to show what a lax immigration policy will get you.
Obama is just your typical marxist.Because he deems himself one of the anointed he doesn’t have to be held to such pedestrian constructs like truth and integrity.
He and all our self appointed “betters” seem to feel that their hypocrisy and dishonesty is the price we have to endure for their sharing of their towering intellects.
While they may have towering intellects they don’t have good memories as they don’t recall it was the policies of the select that have caused many of the greatest ills in the history of humanity.
Then they try demure from any culpability feeling they shouldn’t have to pay a price for foisting there hairbrained foolishness on us, citing their good intentions as a defense.
Does any one on this site think Obama and his cabal of communist crackpots will pay any lasting price for this fiasco of an administration?
He will be feted just like that elder loon Jimmy Carter and the serilal philanderer are.
Rutherford, you’re a blind fucking idiot at you’re pinnacle moment in life. Kill yourself, and for God’s sake, don’t even think about reproducing.